Residents were evacuated from the Kherson region, regularly targeted by bombings and partly controlled by Russian forces.
The Ukrainian authorities are on alert on Thursday, September 14, in the Kherson region. Located in the south of the country, this Ukrainian territory partly controlled by the Russians is hammered by bombings, to the point that kyiv has declared it is carrying out evacuations. “obligatory”. While Kim Jong-un is still on a diplomatic visit to the country, Moscow announced it would expel two American diplomats, a decision immediately contested by Washington. Here’s what to remember from this day.
“Mandatory” evacuations in the Kherson region
The Kherson Regional Defense Council made the decision to evacuate “obligatory” residents of the region. The governor Oleksandr Prokudin announced the measure on his Telegram account. Among these people evacuated from “localities subject to constant enemy fire”feature families with children.
The Ukrainian authorities had already carried out similar evacuations in the region last month but without going so far as to make them compulsory. Regularly targeted by bombings, the city of Kherson is no longer controlled by the Russians, who have retreated south of the Dnieper River. This region, however, remains partly occupied by Russian forces.
In this same region, an investigation was opened to “violation of the laws and customs of war combined with premeditated murder”. Last night, a six-year-old boy was killed in the village of Novodmytrivka after a shelling by the Russian army, reports Ukrainian media Suspilne, citing the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office.
Diplomatic visits continue in Russia
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s visit to Russia, which began on Tuesday, will last “a few more days” according to the Kremlin, which does not provide further details. The two leaders gave each other the same gift on Thursday: a rifle. This present takes on symbolic importance as this visit could lead to a delivery of weapons from Pyongyang to Russia. The United States in particular has expressed its “concern”.
The Kremlin spokesperson also announced Thursday that Vladimir Putin had accepted an invitation in return to visit North Korea without announcing a date. The Russian president will receive his Belarusian counterpart tomorrow, Alexander Lukashenko, selon the official Belarusian news agency Belta. “The two heads of state will discuss the international agenda and regional issues, specifies the agency. They will also take stock of tasks in the economic sector, particularly in industry, agriculture and other sectors, as well as joint efforts in import substitution.”
An expulsion of American diplomats “without basis” for Washington
The United States judges “unjustified” the decision taken Thursday by Moscow to expel two American diplomats. These two secretaries at the Moscow embassy are accused of having served as agents of “connection” for the benefit of a former Russian employee, arrested at the beginning of the year. They are thus suspected of having transmitted information to Washington on the conflict in Ukraine. These diplomats must now leave Moscow “within seven days” orders a press release from the Russian Foreign Ministry published on Thursday.
The American embassy in Moscow denounced the “ongoing attempts by the Russian government to intimidate and harass [ses] employees”. The spokesperson for the US State Department responded from Washington : “you can certainly expect us to respond to these measures appropriately”he concluded.
Seventeen Russian drones shot down
Ukraine claims to have shot down seventeen Russian drones during the night from Wednesday to Thursday, in the region of Mykolaiv (South), Zaporijjia (South), Dnipropetrovsk (Central-East) and Sumy (North-East). The Ukrainian Air Force did not specify possible damage or casualties, or the precise locations of where the aircraft were shot down.
Russia also claims to have destroyed several Ukrainian drones in the Bryansk and Belgorod regions last night. The attacks did not “not made of victim or damage”specified local governor Alexandre Bogomaz.